St. Joseph Avenue will get some much-needed improvements thanks to a federal grant.

The Community Alliance of Saint Joseph, with the help of the City of St. Joseph and others, secured $600,000 in FHWA’s Discretionary Grant Program funds.

 

The Transportation, Community and System Preservation Program funds will be used to create dedicated bike lanes, widen sidewalks and calm traffic on a 1.5 mile section of St. Joseph Avenue (U.S. Highway 59).

“Making improvements to take back our street from being focused solely upon the automobile, at the expense of the homes along the street, our children and business community, to a facility that adds value to the neighborhood is an attractive alternative,” said City Manager Bruce Woody in a letter in support of the grant application.

“St. Joseph Avenue is the collective community space and should enhance the unique history and culture of the Northside.”

The Northside Livability Initiative will improve the infrastructure from roughly Robidoux Middle School on the north, to Highland Avenue on the south. The street is traveled on by about 14,000 cars a day.

The Community Alliance of Saint Joseph and the City of St. Joseph wrote the grant proposal with the guidance of the Ferguson Group in Washington, D.C. With earmarks being taken out of federal budgets, more emphasis is being put on grants for federal spending in local communities.

We zeroed in on a transportation grant that fit very specific conditions,” said Steve Johnston, Director of the Community Alliance of Saint Joseph.

The grant is an 80/20 match, meaning that the City will have to contribute $150,000.